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CEB fails again

by Ravi Ladduwahetty

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has told a meeting of CEB officials who met him at Temple Trees yesterday to request that the current two hour power cut be extended further that they should take the responsibility and resign if there was such a need, authoritative official sources told the 'Daily News' last night.

The Premier has also said that despite assurances given by the CEB officials, the GTZ Project at Sapugaskanda had not been completed in February as promised by the CEB and said that he entertained serious doubts that the project could be completed even by July.

The Premier has also pointed out that solutions to the current power crisis have not been found despite assurances given by the CEB and that no plan has yet been implemented in this regard.

He will address the nation on the current power crisis tomorrow (1), they said.

There will be an addition of 100 Megawatts of power added to the national grid in addition to the 35 MW which had been recently added.

Tourist hotels and industrial establishments have also been authorised to generate their own power supplies for their own consumption which aggregate to around 200 MW.

These industrial establishments, the Premier said, will be paid Rs. 10.50 per hour for every unit of power that they will add to the national grid.

Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya has told the meeting that tenders have been called for prospective suppliers but the Government was willing to buy power outside the tender procedure with effect from March 1.

There will be a meeting of these suppliers today and all prospective suppliers have been invited for this meeting, these sources said.

The Government hopes to solve the crisis within the next seven weeks, the sources said.

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